The "Edit Reasons and Cutoffs" page in jmc Office provides Iowa schools with the flexibility of identifying reasons for student absences including reasons that are exempt from Iowa chronic absenteeism laws with just a few clicks. Begin by defining the absence reason and, if applicable, mark the reason as "Exempt from Truancy" to allow qualified reasons to be excluded from the "For a Threshold" report. Then, specify which periods are used for attendance reporting for each grade level in your school, ensuring accuracy in calculating absence rates regardless of the frequency with which different grade levels report attendance.

To define absence reasons, head to Period Attendance > Data > Edit Reasons and Cutoffs in jmc Office.

Step One: Click the "Edit" link next to a blank row to add a new absence reason or click the "Edit" link to edit the truancy exemption status for an existing absence reason.

Helpful Tip: Need to add or edit your current absence reasons? Follow the steps in the Add or edit an absence reason in Period Attendance resource to customize your school's absence reasons.

Step Two: Place a checkmark in the "Exempt from Truancy" checkbox to identify the absence reason as meeting the state's truancy exemption criteria.

Step Three: Click the "Update" link to save your changes or the "Cancel" link to discard them.

Establish your period attendance settings for data entry as relates to the "For a Threshold" report by navigating to Period Attendance > Data > Edit Reasons and Cutoffs in jmc Office.

Step One: Click the "Edit" link next to a grade level in the "Period Attendance Settings" section to set the attendance periods for the selected grade level.

Step Two: Place a checkmark next to each period in the "Periods" multi-select drop-down list to define the periods your school uses for taking attendance for the specified grade level.

Helpful Tip: If your 1st-5th grade reports 1 period for a half day absence and 2 periods for a full day absence, select the two periods your school uses when taking attendance (for example 1 and 2) to maintain accuracy when calculating student absence rates.

Step Three: Click the "Update" link to save your changes or the "Cancel" link to discard them.

Step Four: Repeat steps one through three to define attendance periods for each grade level at your school.